Video: Bending geometry

A lot of times when you are making different models you're going to need to bend. And the Bend tool in modo is really powerful, but it's often very confusing, so let's do this. Let's take our existing model that we built in the previous videos of our fire extinguisher. So I'm going to go to the File menu, click Open, and we're going to load up Version 3. I'll click OK. So Fire Extinguisher Version 3. Press the A key to fit, and you'll see the fire extinguisher from the base to the clamp, to the handle that we've built.

In this course, author Dan Ablan walks through the process of understanding the MODO workflow while learning to create 3D models and animations. The course teaches fundamental tasks, such as modeling polygons and applying materials with the Shader Tree, while exploring scene building in depth through advanced lighting, camera, and animation techniques. The course also covers MODO's schematic tools and shows how to render animations for various playback media.

Bending geometry

A lot of times when you are making different models you're going to need to bend.And the Bend tool in modo is really powerful, but it's often very confusing, so let's do this.Let's take our existing model that we built in the previous videos of our fire extinguisher.So I'm going to go to the File menu, click Open, and we're going to load up Version 3.I'll click OK.So Fire Extinguisher Version 3.Press the A key to fit, and you'll see the fire extinguisher from the base tothe clamp, to the handle that we've built.

Now we're going to come to the Items tab, choose Add Item, and then Mesh, and thatcreates a new blank mesh layer. And what we're going to do is create a littlehose that's going to come out.Now we're not going to build the big hose that goes around the side just yet. That's coming up.And by the way, just to scroll in like that, I have a wheel on my mouse, and ifyou have one, you can actually scroll in and out every easily that way.At the top here, what we want to do is create a little bit of a hose that comesout from the center and comes around.

I am going to do something here too.I'm going to jump to the Shader Tree, open up the Render, and here are the threematerial groups that we created.I am seeing that the black might be a little bit hard to see, so let's do this.Let's go to the Clamp and choose the Material, and I'm going to the Material andI'm just going to select this and make this is kind of gray, like that. And movethe mouse off, and that's goes away.And then we'll do the same for the handle.It is already gray, but we are going to make it a little bit brighter. And wehaven't placed our final surfaces on here yet, so we are just doing a minoradjustment. Let's turn back to the Items tab now.

So now that you can see this little bit better, we will be able to create our disc.What I'm going to different here is press Ctrl+Space and then jump to the top view.So I'll select that with the left mouse, and it jumps me over. And in our blankmesh--let's make sure that's selected in the Item list--I'm going to choose the Disc tool, or the Cylinder, and we're going to build adisc like this. And I'm watching my numerics on the left-hand side here, so itjust 90 millimeter is my Radius, and it could be approximate.Before I turn the tool off, Ctrl+Spacebar again, to get to the front view, andlet's just make sure that this is settled down kind of about there in the base.

Then I'm going to turn off the Cylinder, go to Polygons tab, and then we'regoing to choose Extrude.So we'll choose Shift+X. It's a nice keyboard equivalent for ExtrudeAnd Ctrl+Space lets you actually get to the Perspective view.We're just going to click and pull.Now why did that work that way?Well, don't forget, we've got our mesh layer selected, our brand-new mesh.So even though you saw the whole model, we were telling modo, we are onlyworking with this one layer.

So early in the course when I talked about making multiple layers and why would we do that,this is exactly one reason.The base is fine, the handle is fine, the clamp is fine;we're not working with those at this point.Now we're able to simply extrude what we want without destroying anything elsewe already built; it works really well that way.So with this extrusion, I want to come up about that far, just enough so thatI'll have room to bend that over.Later we're actually going to build the nice hose that comes around the outside.We also want to make sure that our sides have enough segments.

You cannot bend a straight object, so when we build it, we want to make sure wehave enough segments.So initially yours might be zero like this, and what you end up with is onlyjust kind of that ring like that.We won't be able to actually bend that over, because there is nothing there toallow us to do that. We need geometry.In many ways it's like taking a straight wall and trying to bend it. It will crack.By adding segments, we make it more like a screen door or window or screen window.And with that mesh layer there like that, that nice quad,we can actually bend that over quite well.

So I'll turn off Extrude and then go to the Deform tab, and we'll choose Bend.It's also Ctrl+E, using the shortcut.Now for bend, I like to be straight on in orthogonal view, so Ctrl+Spacebar andget to the Front. And let's just turn off the Base and the Handle, so you cansee what we're doing, and the Clamp.And what I am going to do with the bend is just click right at the bottom, andwhat happens is that I get this nice ring.And with the Bend tool you can have the action happen from the X, Y or Z, butbecause I was in the front view, modo knew that I wanted to down the Z axis.

And what that means is I can grab this and bend it to the left or right, but thereis this line coming out. So let me zoom out a little bit. This right here.What this handle will do, it will allow us to control the bend, so I want to putthis straight at the top and watch what happens.So I am going to click and drag on this blue handle here and I bend that entireunit, and that's really all we want to do. But let me show you what happens if I move this.We're able to actually create a different shape for the bend just bypulling this handle.

This is what's really neat about modo's tools is that they work live like this,so you really can get a good feel for your final model.It's not as much trial and erroras it is just pull and push to the way you want it when you see the action happen.With the right amount of segments, we're going to get a smooth shape.If we didn't have enough of these, it wouldn't be smooth enough.So let's keep this like this just for a minute, and let's put our Clamp and our Base back on.Actually that's about right.That's about where I want it.I'm going to press the spacebar to turn off the bend tool and thenCtrl+Spacebar to go back to the Perspective view.

And let's take a look,now we've got just that nice little tube coming out, just like we want.Later we can build upon this to create the rest of the hose. And again, weare not trying to go for a perfectly accurate model, but we definitely want it to work.We don't want to have a hose floating there on the side not really connected to it.So last thing I need to do is name my mesh layer, and we'll call this CenterHose, andwe'll press the M key for a polygon material, and we'll also call thisCenterHose. And we'll do Command+S or Ctrl+S to save.

So what we have done here is we've taken a disc and we built our base.We've taken a box and we built the clamp.We've also take another box and built the Handle.We have used Booleans to cut them out, and then we've used Falloff to shape thatHandle and we've also used another disc with a controlled bend to build the hosecoming out of the center.So all geometric shapes, with just all of modo tools, can help you make agreat model.

Learn by watching, listening, and doing, Exercise files are the same files the author uses in the course, so you can download them and follow along Premium memberships include access to all exercise files in the library.

Already a member ?

Learn by watching, listening, and doing! Exercise files are the same files the author uses in the course, so you can download them and follow along. Exercise files are available with all Premium memberships.
Learn more

Upgrade to our Annual Premium Membership today and get even more value from your lynda.com subscription:

“In a way, I feel like you are rooting for me. Like you are really invested in my experience, and want me to get as much out of these courses as possible this is the best place to start on your journey to learning new material.”— Nadine H.

Thanks for signing up.

We’ll send you a confirmation email shortly.

Sign up and receive emails about lynda.com and our online training library:

new course releases

newsletter

general communications

special notices

Here’s our privacy policy with more details about how we handle your information.

Keep up with news, tips, and latest courses with emails from lynda.com.

Sign up and receive emails about lynda.com and our online training library:

new course releases

newsletter

general communications

special notices

Here’s our privacy policy with more details about how we handle your information.